iRig BlueBoard, The First Wireless Pedalboard For iOS And Mac

If there’s one group of people who could seriously do with less wires — or in this case, cables — it’s guitarists. Walking around with two grand worth of Fender in your hands, trying avoiding a snake-pit of cables and simultaneously tapping out Van Halen’s Eruption probably takes some concentration (I wouldn’t know; I’ve never been on stage with anything but an air guitar, which was completely wireless).

IK Multimedia’s new four-pedal iRig BlueBoard pedalboard de-clutters the floor a little, as it’s the first completely wireless pedalboard for iOS and Macs. The board connects to its companion app on an accompanying iDevice (or to a Mac) through a Bluetooth connection.

The you can use the BlueBoard with apps like IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube, Garageband or iShred Live to control effects and parameters. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with any cables — so you’ll still need something to connect your guitar to your iDevice, like IK Multimedia’s own iRig connector or Griffin’s Guitarconnect.

IK Multimedia says the BlueBoard’s range tops out at about 10 feet. Also, because the BlueBoard’s Bluetooth is low-energy 4.0 — which allows it get away with being powered by four AAA batteries — you’ll need an iDevice similarly equipped equipped with Bluetooth 4.0: the iPhone 4s and above, third-gen iPad or above or an iPad Mini. The board also has two TRS jacks for attaching expression pedals or other MIDI controllers.